Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2) (4 page)

Leaving the forest, Hui Yue was no longer speaking. His blue eyes narrowed slightly as they were observing everything was happening around him, shining vigilantly in the dim light which the moon cascaded down on them.

The fields were empty, tools stacked up in the corner of the fields, as the farmers had left them there before they retreated back into the city.

The city was shining with light that was visible even from far away. No wall surrounded the city, instead  farmhouses dotted the outskirts where animals were resting inside barns.

The silence would occasionally be interrupted by the sounds of demon beasts growling or howling in the air, in response to Hui Yue and his friends who were making their way through the dusty streets.

The houses all seemed to be of good quality and well looked after, none of them were worn down nor were they destroyed by attacks of demon beasts. By the look of the houses alone, this city seemed to be very safe.

Walking through the streets, Hui Yue noticed that although light was streaming out of people’s windows  no one was on the streets, leaving them completely deserted. Happy voices could be heard from within the houses, causing Hui Yue to frown. Everyone seemed happy, but, strangely, no one left their house. The white-haired young man grew increasingly alert.

A tense atmosphere appeared as the four friends slowly made their way past the farm houses and towards the urban areas of the city, aiming to find an inn. Walking further into town caused them to become even more vigilant in their observation of their surroundings. Even here, no one was walking through the streets, only light and laughter from within houses was streaming into the empty world where Hui Yue and his friends quickly passed.

Making a swift decision, Hui Yue made a gesture with his hand and all four turned around. None of the four said a word, while moving as quiet as shadows as they retreated out of the city once more.

The sun was rising by the time the four once more made it back to the forest where they gathered behind the trees. Hiding so that no citizens could see them waiting.

As the sun rose in the sky, Hui Yue observed the workers under the rising sun, which allowed a few rays of light to shine down on them. The weather was just like a usual autumn day, confusing Hui Yue.

From what he was told, Sun should have been taken to this city, and he had expected that this would result in the city being filled with sunshine, radiating immense heat. Yet looking at the city and fields, one would not be able to tell this place apart from any other.

Having observed for a couple of hours, Hui Yue finally rose to his feet after having cultivated and stretched his body before a splendid smile appeared on his face.

“Let us see how they welcome outsiders.” He said, as he turned around and with steady confident steps walked towards the fields and the farmers.

Walking out of the forest, not many of the farmers noticed them initially, yet with each step they took more and more farmers would stop in their tracks as they stared at Hui Yue and the others, their mouths agape as if they had seen a ghost.

Seeing that they had such a reaction but did nothing to stop them, Hui Yue just kept smiling in a carefree way and nodded every now and then to the pretty girls who were walking in the fields.

The calm and carefree expression which Hui Yue showed was not possible to be mirrored by any of the others. The farmers seeing Hui Yue walk in front of the three others, especially with someone as exotic as Sha Yun, instantly took Hui Yue to be someone they should not mess with. The girls whom he nodded to got red cheeks and felt their hearts flutter, as this esteemed person had shown them favour.

Great curiosity as to whom this person was, and as to why his entourage appeared from within the forest caused many of the farmers to follow them, as they made their way to the city at a leisurely pace. While Hui Yue attentively showed interest in everything around him.

In the beginning only a few farmers saw them, but when they made it to the farmhouses they had an entourage of over two hundred following them.  Yet even under pressure , Hui Yue still walked at a leisurely pace as though he was used to having that many followers.

Respect grew within the three friends which were traveling with him as his demeanour had changed completely into that of a young master. Even the aloof Wang Ju Long had to admit that she was slightly uncomfortable with this many followers, and some strains of displeasure were visible on her face. This, in turn, caused the farmers to even more so think Hui Yue was a young master who was travelling with his magical beast and two retainers.

Although Hui Yue was moving slowly, acting like a young master who feared nothing, he was also walking slowly to observe everything around them in the daylight.

These farmers clearly lived in the farmhouses and the people from within the houses quickly gathered along with their families, whispering to one another, causing the many voices to group together into the loudest murmurs Hui Yue had ever heard before.

Looking around, Hui Yue frowned as he quickly exited the areas where animals were held, and his speed once more slowed down as he entered a paved road with smaller, yet clearly better, houses.

They had now come as far as they had the night before, yet everything was the complete opposite of what it had been, making Hui Yue to chuckle slightly. The chuckle, however, quickly changed to a frown as he looked around but could not locate an inn..

Walking further the houses became mansions and eventually Hui Yue and the entourage were in the middle of town, looking at an astonishing pagoda yet no expression of astonishment could be seen on Hui Yue’s face. Instead a look of annoyance could be seen, as if the beautiful pagoda was not even worthy of his attention.

Mustering all his courage, a young man stepped forward, clearing his throat. Hui Yue intentionally ignored him a few times before he finally turned around and looked at the youth with a noble but gentle expression on his face.

“Can I help you?” Hui Yue’s voice broke through the air like a sharp sword through one’s body, cutting right through the bone.

Swallowing a few times the youngster opened his mouth and stuttered, “M.. milord, is there anything I can do for you?”

Looking at the young man, Hui Yue noticed how he cowered in front of what he thought was a young master, and the white-haired young man almost pitied him. But in this world the ones who mattered to him were only his friends and himself. He had already learned that within this world mercy was a luxury he could not afford.

“I am looking for an inn,” Hui Yue said, his voice floating over every peasant who had followed him so far, yet the square no longer only contained farmers. It contained many different citizens within the small city, but as soon as they heard the word inn, a collective gasp sounded out followed by loud murmurs.

Hui Yue frowned as he saw their reaction, and the man he had spoken with earlier was looking at Hui Yue with veneration equal to that of a dog to its master. From within the crowd sentences such as “He is from a city with inns,” “He is used to resting at an inn,” could be heard.

Deep inside, Hui Yue could not help but be fairly shocked when he saw such a strong reaction to something as small as an inn, but outside he showed none of his surprise on his face. Instead he looked around impatiently, as multiple citizens gained the courage to appear in front of him.

“Perhaps your lordship would consider staying at my humble abode?” A man asked very politely, yet before Hui Yue had the time to answer another person pushed his way to the front and asked the same question.

Within a few moments, a fight broke out causing even guards to force their way into the middle of the horde trying to break them up, but it did little. Hui Yue looked at the Disciple ranked guards and sighed.

“Take care of it,” Hui Yue said, his voice seemingly arrogant and ordering but as soon as they heard the order, Deng Wu, Wang Ju Long, and Sha Yun all moved forward ready to do just that.

It was not that Hui Yue usually spoke to his friends in such an arrogant way, but the fact that all three had fallen into the roles which the audience had assumed for them.

Walking towards the people fighting, the surrounding audience quickly retreated as they saw the three arriving.

Sha Yun let out a low hiss in displeasure as she had to work, and with a sweep of her tail three men were instantly blown out of the group of fighting men. One of the three was thrown so far back that he landed on top of two other citizens who were watching the fight. All three of them crashing to the ground, blood spraying everywhere, and the white from broken bones were visible in the cluster of flesh and clothes the poor peasants had turned into.

The two others were not as lucky, but the audience was relieved as soon as they landed against the pagoda, blood spraying from their mouths and both slumping down, collapsing on the ground with no signs of life.

The smell of blood caused the fight to still and shock was plastered on their faces, as they saw the unfortunate people who had been knocked flying by Sha Yun. They were even more shocked when they saw the menacing expression on her beautiful face. It was obvious that she was strongly opposed to the fighting that was occurring.

The guards stood still, limbs frozen by fear, as they contemplated what they should do with the young master who had appeared with such a strong force. They all knew that if they were to go against him, they were not his match.

It was not before now that Hui Yue noticed that the citizens all were around the Student rank while the guards were Practitioners. In the entire area around the pagoda no one seemed to have even unlocked the middle dantian.

Everyone were completely quiet and shocked. From the distance, Hui Yue noticed a ruckus as someone tried to make their way to the center. His attention was on them from the very start and an interesting gleam appeared in his eyes, a smile never once leaving his lips.

The ones who were coming were all Practitioner ranked experts, and Hui Yue guessed that within this city that was considered a rather high cultivation base, yet the group would be nothing more than an appetizer for Deng Wu’s soul shadows.

Breaking through the horde of humans, a group of twenty men made it to the square where Hui Yue was currently standing leisurely while his friends were by his side, ready to attack should Hui Yue wish for it.

The twenty new arrivals were clearly all of a different rank than the guards which had appeared so far. Their uniforms were a bright red colour with golden outlines, and their faces were very arrogant, but as soon as they had laid eyes upon Hui Yue, shock was evident in their expressions, and the man in front took a few steps forward.

“Young lord,” His voice still had slight arrogance within, yet he showed all signs of courtesy as he bowed to Hui Yue. “The City Lord would like to welcome you to our humble city.”

“The City Lord would like to welcome you to our humble city,” The red dressed guard said with a humble bow. “Please follow me to the City Lord’s mansion where you may take up residency for as long as you wish.”

Hui Yue nodded in reply and slowly followed the guards. Everyone who previously followed closely behind them now spread out to allow them  easy passage. None of them could forget how the snake-woman had just killed at least three men with one swipe of her tail.

Hui Yue once more walked at a leisurely pace through the town, observing everything around him. He quickly noticed that they had taken a roundabout way to reach the City Lord’s mansion. Despite this, Hui Yue understood the layout of the streets nonetheless.

The City Lord’s mansion was small in comparison to the one from Riluo City, yet the size was still quite large, definitely larger than the mansion that Hui Yue had bought.

Walking out of the mansion, more red uniformed guards appeared, all of which were at the Practitioner rank, and they showed the utmost respect towards Hui Yue and his followers. The leader, who was walking in front, seemed to be proud of leading the way.

Walking past several residences, they finally arrived at a city hall where they were led inside. This open hall had no separations, only elaborately carved wooden pillars. At the end of the hall five seats were placed, and in the center was a middle-aged man seated with two grey-haired men on either side of him.

Black shining hair and a beard adorned the middle-aged man’s face, framing his intelligent but haughty eyes as he looked at Hui Yue with great interest.

The robe he wore was clearly made from material much more luxurious than that of any of the citizens, even the red uniforms seemed somewhat lacklustre next to him. Golden threads had been used to make an embroidery of the four divine beasts.Two were on front of his garments while the other two on his back.

Looking at this man, Hui Yue estimated him to be around the same rank as himself, and each of the elders were a slightly higher rank.

It had to be said that although the elders were of higher rank, they had clearly seen days where they were stronger, making it impossible for any of them to fully utilize their cultivation base. None of them were Grandmaster ranked or above; at most they were nine-star Masters, much like Deng Wu.

These five men observed Hui Yue and his entourage with mixed expressions. One with arrogance, one with veneration, and the other with surprise.

It was obvious that youths were never so highly ranked in cultivation here, and while some were surprised and awed by this, others felt arrogance as they too had reached the same level, showing that they were in no way inferior. Especially considering that these elders had life experiences, giving them much more wisdom than such youths, it made them feel superior.

It was evident that the City Lord himself felt that he was much more astonishing than Hui Yue and his group, causing Hui Yue to inwardly laugh with disdain.

Although the City Lord was higher ranked than Hui Yue, his life experience was far from Hui Yue’s. It was obvious that this city was isolated from the rest of the Dungeons of the Divine, but how or why was something that Hui Yue knew nothing about.

Looking at Hui Yue with arrogance shining from his eyes, the City Lord slightly nodded his head in greeting, which Hui Yue mirrored, deciding to show only as much courtesy to this man as he himself got.

Seeing that Hui Yue had neither clasped his hands nor bowed to the City Lord made the City Lord’s brows furrow in annoyance, yet he said nothing. Not even when he noticed that the white-haired young man’s entourage was even less polite, not even greeting him with the slightest look. They were, all three, busy observing the surroundings preparing to escape, should the need arrive.

“Young master.” The City Lord finally opened his mouth; his face was forced into a welcoming and polite expression, but Hui Yue could tell that he was not very used to greeting guests. This city truly seemed to be isolated from the rest of the underground world.

“It would be our pleasure to allow for you and your…. friends…. to stay with us for as long as you wish. We are setting up a banquet tonight, perhaps you would like to join us?”

Seeing as though he was contemplating, Hui Yue paused for a slight moment before a smile spread on his face. “That would be my honour, but for me to join, I wish to bring my friends with me. Being in a new place, they would never allow for me to go alone.”

Such a request was only natural, and the City Lord had already guessed that he would have no way of inviting this boy with a decent cultivation technique, so he nodded his head in confirmation. Every time his eyes landed on Sha Yun, complicated emotions were visible on his face.

There was a gleam of lust mixed with arrogance and curiosity. Sha Yun was clearly not your average human, but it seemed as though the City Lord did not think that she was a magical beast. It is possible she could be a human from another tribe where they had changed throughout the years.

Wresting himself from his deep thoughts, the City Lord stood up and walked towards Hui Yue. His eyes glanced towards Sha Yun multiple times as though he could never get enough of seeing her, yet at the same time knew it was inappropriate.

The snake-woman’s eyes were narrowed in displeasure, and her usually beautiful lips were curled up into a sneer.She felt deep enmity towards this City Lord who showed only the minimum amount of respect towards Hui Yue, but Sha Yun did nothing apart from sneering and glaring at the black-haired City Lord who was now advancing, soon to be standing next to Hui Yue.

“We thank the City Lord for his generosity,” Hui Yue said with a clear voice, in no way intimidated by the taller and much more sturdy man.

“Please, call me Liu Wei.” The voice was filled with friendliness and flattery, so much that Hui Yue fought hard not to roll his eyes at the older man. Instead, he clasped his hands and made a slight bow towards the City Lord, introducing himself, “I am Zhang Xiao.”

Hui Yue did not have any positive feelings about these elders nor the City Lord, making him come up with the most generic name he had in mind. A sigh of relief was breathed internally as Hui Yue noticed how the others showed no surprise on hearing the name. Although these elders were no longer in their prime, they were still able to look through even small lies by observing the facial expressions of the ones in question.

Hearing the name, Lord Liu Wei once more nodded his head as he spread his arms open in an attempt to seem even friendlier. “As long as you stay in my mansion, you are welcome anywhere you wish to go. The servants will help you find your housing.” He gestured to some of the servants. Hui Yue nodded as he got ready to follow them.

“We’ll see you at the banquet tonight.” Hui Yue smiled as he turned around and moved away together with his friends.

As soon as Hui Yue’s shadow vanished and he was out of sight, the smile vanished from the City Lord’s face, replaced by annoyance.

“Why would so many high ranked experts appear here?” he asked with furrowed brows.

“They must have come from beyond the tunnels,” another elder said, his face twisted in displeasure.

“Beyond the tunnels?” Lord Liu Wei’s face turned ashen as he said the question, yet before any of the elders had time to answer, he shook his head, a determined expression appearing on his face.

“They cannot have come from beyond the tunnels,” he said with a steady expression. “His group appeared from the forest side of our land. It would not have been possible for them to sneak across our entire city without attracting attention, so they must be from the forest. Could there be a village left within the forest that managed to salvage some cultivation techniques?”

Hearing the suggestion, all the elders eye’s opened wide and one of them started panting slightly in greed. All of them knew how hard it was to cultivate with no techniques. Each person had to find their own way of cultivation, specialized for themselves, but their way was nowhere near efficient enough to allow for youngsters like Zhang Xiao.

Finally, the elder seated right next to Lord Liu Wei sighed deeply as he said, “Let us see what they have to say during the banquet.” Hearing his voice, everyone present in the room nodded their heads in unison before they split up, deciding to get themselves, and the mansion, ready for the banquet they had promised the newly arrived guests.

While the elders were discussing the newly arrived guests, the group of youngsters had followed the servant tasked to show them their courtyard. Looking around, Hui Yue had to admit that although this place was underground and a lot smaller than Riluo City, it was far from a small place and mapping out the area took him much longer than expected.

The young people finally arrived at a courtyard where they all sat down quietly. The rooms were filled with memory stones which recorded anything that happened, yet fortunately enough these memory stones were not able to record audio, and they slowly started discussing their further plans now that they had finally found a place to stay.

….

On the surface world a frenzied search had been going on for the better of four months, trying to locate one youngster who had disappeared from the face of the earth.

This youngster was obviously Hui Yue, and the search was started by the royal family who wished to discuss which methods the white-haired youngster had been practicing, so that they,  themselves, could hope to reach Saint rank at such a young age.

At first the royal family assumed that the experts within Riluo City lied, as they felt embarrassed by having a King ranked expert killed by a mere Master ranked expert; however, as soon as they used the truth potions on these experts, they found that it was in fact a Saint who had appeared that fateful day. Unfortunately, this expert disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

The royal family ordered everyone within Riluo City to keep quiet about Hui Yue and his rank; however, some rumours had already left the city, causing ripples to appear within the usually silent Taiyang Kingdom.

Fortunately, these rumours ended as just that. Everyone heard about this amazing youth who had reached the Saint rank before he had been twenty years of age, yet no one knew where he was now nor  if in fact this was true or not.

Everyone quickly agreed that it was started by the experts of Riluo City for the sake of fame or to explain the disaster of a Great Hundred Names King ranked expert being killed by his son.

The royal kingdom had sent a handful of their silent ravens to every corner of the kingdom, yet not one had emerged with even the slightest trace of the genius youth and his friends.

“What do you mean he disappeared?” Zhong Fai’s voice was raised much more than usual; his handsome youthful face twisted in annoyance as the frozen man was standing in front of him, shrugging his shoulders.

“We lost track of him after the battle for City Lord of Riluo City,” the frozen man explained once more. Although it was obvious that Zhong Fai was his superior, he showed no signs of fear upon seeing the agitated young man.

“Good. Very good,” Zong Fai said while leaning back against his icy throne. His face was straight as he pondered slightly, and suddenly, a brilliant smile lit up the room.

“Let us see how long he can stay hidden. Send the seven crusaders out to find him!”